For some, it seems like yesterday when retailers and restaurants throughout Manhattan boarded up their storefronts in anticipation of the demonstrations surrounding police brutality and the contentious presidential election. While pandemic challenges persist, New York has somewhat stabilized, even felt occasionally optimistic, since the turbulent summer and fall of 2020, and that’s partly due to the Plywood Protection Project, an initiative by Worthless Studios, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting artists’ fabrication needs and producing public art. Founder Neil Hamamoto, a conceptual artist himself who has a mechanical engineering degree from Stanford University and installations planned for Google’s new Pier 57 offices, got the idea driving around SoHo, where he saw wood on the streets ready for disposal.
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By Syndicated Content
By Aleksandra Michalska
NEW YORK (Reuters) – For New York artist Tanda Francis, the Black Lives Matter protests during the summer of 2020 were an historic event.
To honor those who participated and create a permanent tribute to the racial justice movement, Francis took plywood used to board up storefronts across the city last year and turned it into a sculpture called “RockIt Black.”
“To transform this plywood that was on the streets during the Black Lives Matter actual uprising is… amazing,” Francis told Reuters. “In my work, I actually use the color black and actually try to elevate it, kind of contrast to how it’s been sort of stigmatized in our culture.”
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